SB1 with expired GC

New Member

I am a GC holder living in India for past 3 years to take care of parent's health (2 surgeries). My GC expired 2 years back. Now, i plan to return to US permanently.
I have a current DL, Bank account in US. I also filed US taxes for past 3 years while in India. My spouse and children are US citizens.
1) Can I apply for returning resident visa(SB1) even though my GC is expired. What are the chances of approval
2) or Should I try entering US with expired GC and explain my situation at border

New Member

Sorry , if there is a misunderstanding. Myself and my spouse use this account. Feb post was done by my spouse when we were under the impression that we have to redo the entire GC process as GC is expired.
But we came to know about SB1 recently and hence this post is by me. This is a genuine question. Please share your opinion . SB1 will save lot of time for us if approved. My question below.
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I am a GC holder living in India for past 3 years to take care of parent's health (2 surgeries). My GC expired 2 years back. Now, i plan to return to US permanently.
I have a current DL, Bank account in US. I also filed US taxes for past 3 years while in India. My spouse and children are US citizens. All are in India now.
1) Can I apply for returning resident visa(SB1) even though my GC is expired. What are the chances of approval
2) or Should I try entering US with expired GC and explain my situation at border

Well-Known Member

Well that’s kind of easy. There’s sort of a pre-application process for SB1. You fill in whatever is needed, and then they adjudicate it to see if you qualify. If so then you proceed with the actual SB1 application. You’d need to show them that the stay outside the country was unforeseen, unavoidable etc. my own opinion is that if you are all currently residing in India it sort of undermines the case (looks like a family move rather than someone unexpectedly stuck outside looking after parents) but that’s for the CO to determine. From what I’ve heard the rejection rate for SB1s is extremely high. But you’d know that after stage 1 at which point you could go back to your original plan of just applying for a GC from the start again. There’s plenty of info about the SB1 process on uscis/DoS website and you can contact your embassy too to ask them process.

There’s a good chance spouse would not be allowed on the plane to try option 2 if GC is expired, or that spouse is immediately referred to an immigration judge on landing if allowed to fly. Sometimes the person is put in immigration detention until a judge is available though I doubt this would happen with a usc family attached. Then you have to prove all the same stuff again anyway, in front of judge and presumably with lawyer.